Dear Parents and Carers,

Hasn’t it been cold! The children of Chestnut Class have been extremely stoical as the heating in their classroom has been playing up – we now have four portable heaters in there warming the place through and it isn’t so bad but it was very impressive to see them working away at their writing with their coats, scarves and hats on. Well done Chestnut Class and well done to Mr Keirle for keeping morale up. Let’s hope the engineers who are visiting on Monday get it back up and running.

Visit Our new School Hall

We are VERY excited to move into our new school hall. It will be signed over to us on Monday.

We would love to invite parents and carers to come and see the new hall on Tuesday at 3:00. Join us for a cup of tea and a biscuit before pick up. We will be asking for help after pick up to move the school library from it’s current position in Willow Class into the new hall. This isn’t something that can easily be done with children in tow so, unless they are exceptionally biddable so please don’t feel any pressure to stay and help unless you are free to do so.

Forest School

We are so happy with the Forest School experience that our children access with Gin. It looks fabulous – today especially with the beautiful weather. Even so, it has been super chilly so hats off to the children who spent the afternoon playing in the stream!

School Photographs

The photographer will be visiting school on Friday 28th December to take individual photos. It would be lovely if we could all be looking our best for that. Children who are going to forest school that day will be photographed before they go. Can they please wear their school uniform jumpers and bring a warm layer to change into please.

Christmas

Despite all endeavours to hold back the tide, Christmas is creeping into Kenton Primary. A tree has sprouted in the Foyer area and another has explicably popped up in Abbie’s phonics room. A rash of snowflakes appears to be spreading across the windows.

Children in Willow Class are learning the songs and learning their lines for their Nativity Play which they will perform for parents and carers at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday 11th December.

The rest of the school is working hard to learn Christmas songs for the concert at the church at 5:30 p.m. later that same day.

The KSPA Christmas Fayre will take place in the hall on Friday 12th December. There will be some nice games for children to play and, doubtless, some snacks too. Look out for more information about this coming your way soon.

The school will be taking the coach to see the pantomime in Exeter on Monday 15th December – thanks to the KSPA for organising this trip and for paying for the coach and interval ice creams – we are all SO excited to enjoy this with the children.

Christmas lunches and parties will take place on Thursday December 18th. Teachers will be in touch but there will certainly be Christmas Jumpers involved.

I understand that Gemma Taylor’s Christmas Wreath Workshops are now very fully booked. If you missed the boat, do let her know, if someone drops out then perhaps she’ll find a space for you.

Readathon

The Readathon was a great experience and we enjoyed it very much. So far only a handful of families have paid in their fundraising so we know there should be a lot more to come. Currently, the fundraising stands at £395 – wouldn’t it be amazing if we could get the total up to £1000. Remember, the KSPA are doubling what we raise so every ten pounds your child raises will be worth £20 for the new library.

Parking

In the last week, the number of people bringing cars up to the school seems to have increased quite significantly. Sadly, there was one occasion when a staff member became ill and needed to go home and was unable to because vehicles had been parked blocking them in. Can I ask politely but clearly that only people who have a significant need to park up at the school site, and who have discussed that with me, bring cars up the drive. AT drop off and pick up with multiple families moving through the site and only a single track road up from the gate, it really is not safe for more than the absolute minimum number of vehicles to be moving.

Beautiful Work

Something that makes me just glow as a headteacher is when I see children who have challenged themselves and are taking real pride in their learning. There has been a great deal of that this week – I wanted to share a few photos of children who have made themselves and their teachers very proud. I hope they’ll make you feel proud too.

 

Seesaw

You may have noticed a lack of posts coming out on Seesaw over the past few days. The reason is that the trust has taken our Ipads away for some maintenance and to enroll them to a new and more thorough filtering and firewall system. This will be good for us in the long run but does mean we can’t easily take photos or share children’s work. It shouldn’t mean that your messages aren’t seen but, until we get the Ipads back, it may be worth checking with the class teacher that any messages have got through.

Playthings

At the moment, our children are getting a great deal of happy, creative play from a load of offcuts of timber that were donated to the school. We have some lengths of good strong 2×4 and some planks of decking and the children are finding all sorts of ways to incorporate these into their play – it’s lovely to watch. We would love to double and triple the supply such that there’s enough for everyone who wants to join in. If you have any offcuts of wood or know anyone who does decking or DIY who could give us anything that is too short to be of use to them and would otherwise be binned or burned then please hit us up.

We could also use sound, strong pallets to create more playhouses so there isn’t such potential for conflict over occupancy. Tyres are always welcome too as there is so much play to be got from them.

Last one – we would love to get hold of some big cable reels – partly for the playground and partly to provide outside tables for our EYFS garden.

If you can help with any of this, do get in touch.

Operations Manager Post

Ivy Education Trust are looking to recruit a new Operations Manager. This is a busy and exciting role making sure that all aspects of the Trusts Operations are happening in a way that is timely and effective – with direct benefit to all the children and young people in the trust. If you are a great communicator, a team player, good at organising and scheduling and have an eye for detail, it could be a great job for you. Follow this link to view the job advertisement.

Dates for your diary

Willow Class Post Box Walk – 26th November

School Photos – 28th November

Flu Vaccinations – 1st December

Carol Concert in the Church – Thursday December 11th, 5:30 p.m.

Nativity Play in the Hall – Thursday December 11th, 10:30 a.m.

KSPA Christmas Fayre – Friday December 12th

Pantomime Visit  – 15th December

School Christmas Lunch and Christmas Parties – Thursday December 18th

End of Term – Friday 19th December

Spring Term Begins – Monday 5th January

Bikeability – 1st, 2nd, 3rd December